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27 September 2022 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Lunga Luthuli
Prof Witness Mudzi
Prof Witness Mudzi, Director: Centre for Graduate Support, toasts the new dawn, as the centre aims to align its mandate with the University of the Free State’s goal of creating a one-stop shop for all postgraduate services.
Speaking at the Centre for Graduate Support (CGS) name launch held in the Centenary Complex on the Bloemfontein Campus, Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), shared the importance of being an “institution striving for continuous renewal, transformation, student support, and research excellence”.

Prof Petersen said: “These three pillars should not overshadow or compete with one another, but should complement, enhance, and strengthen one another. Part of the UFS strategy is to recruit and retain internationally recognised academics in fields representing our strengths and areas where we can contribute in a local, national, and international context.”

The centre has been known as the Postgraduate School for 10 years, and with the launch, “aims to align its mandate with the University of the Free State’s goal of creating a one-stop shop for all postgraduate services by expanding the centre’s services”.

Prof Petersen said: “We want to appoint and nurture promising young postdoctoral scholars with established academic records to ensure that all academic staff are research active.  We also aim to increase the proportion of academic staff with PhDs and the citation impact of their research.”

The launch was held on 9 and 15 September 2022 in two legs on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses as the two hosts for postgraduate programmes.

By providing support to postgraduate students, Prof Petersen said the UFS wants to “enable master’s and doctoral students to graduate in the minimum acceptable time, to reduce drop rates, and to improve our throughput rates”.

He said: “The Centre for Graduate Support has a significant role to play – providing an essential part of the practical framework to turn vision and goals into reality. One of the goals over the next few years – as encapsulated in our Vision 130 working document – is to significantly increase the postgraduate to undergraduate student ratio, bringing it closer to 70/30.”

CGS to be hub for postgraduate students

Speaking at the launch, themed ‘The Evolution’, Prof Witness Mudzi, Director: Centre for Graduate Support, said the centre has become a one-stop centre for postgraduate students, covering admissions, registration, extensive training workshops, online tracking, funding, academic writing consultations, and thesis submission.

Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor.
Speaking at the name relaunch event, Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor. Photo: Stephen Collett 

 

Prof Mudzi said: “The centre plays a leading role in developing postgraduate-related policies within the UFS. The workshops we run are designed to supplement the efforts of faculties and departments in producing impactful students. Our research interventions are intended to improve the student and staff research outputs and their impact on society. Our support of postgraduate student conference attendance is meant to enhance the visibility of the University of the Free State.”


The new dawn will also be “an opportunity for conference attendance by PhD students, allowing academic staff who are busy with a PhD to take time off to concentrate on their studies, while the CGS funds a replacement staff member for up to six months, as well as marketing and communication strategies related to postgraduate studies and research”.

News Archive

New challenges for animal science discussed
2006-04-04

Some of the guests attending the congress were from the left Dr Heinz Meissner (honorary president of the South African Society for Animal Science (SASAS) and senior manager at the Animal Production Institute of the Agricultural Research Council), Mr Paul Bevan (President of SASAS) and Prof Magda Fourie (Vice-Rector:  Academic Planning at the UFS).
Photo: Lacea Loader

New challenges for animal science discussed  

The South African Society for Animal Science (SASAS) is presenting its 41st Congress at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Main Campus in Bloemfontein. 

The congress started yesterday and will run until Thursday 6 April 2006.  The theme is New challenges for the animal science industries.

It is one of the largest congresses in the 45 years since SASAS was founded in 1961.  Among the delegates 12 African countries are represented, with the biggest delegation from Kenya.  Delegates are also from the United States of America, Iran, Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal and African countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana.

“Many of our members play an important role in the training of animal scientists at universities.  The congress is specifically industry orientated so that scientists can interact with farmers through the respective producer organisations,” said Prof HO de Waal, Chairperson of the organising committee and lecturer at the UFS Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences.

According to Dr Heinz Meissner, honorary president of SASAS and a senior manager at the Animal Production Institute of the Agricultural Research Council, the National Livestock Strategy (NLS) Plan clarifies the role and responsibility of the livestock sector. 

“Through this strategy we need to focus on enhancing equitable access and participation in livestock agriculture, improve global competitiveness and profitability of the livestock sector and ensure that the ventures implemented do not over utilise our resources,” said Dr Meissner.

In her welcoming address, Prof Magda Fourie, Vice-Rector:  Academic Planning at the UFS highlighted the related challenges that the UFS will be focusing on specifically over the next five years.  “We have identified five strategic clusters that represent broad areas of excellence in research and post-graduate education.  Two of these are food production, quality and safety for Africa and sustainable development,” she said.

“The food safety and security cluster will focus on the production of food in all its varieties within the African context, encompassing the entire value chain – from production to consumption and nutrition related issues.  This would include a strong emphasis on sustainable production systems,” she said.

According to Prof Fourie the rural development cluster will engage in questions around the role of higher education in sustainable development.  “One of the focus areas in this strategic cluster pertains to sustainable livelihoods.  It refers to a way of approaching development that incorporates all aspects of human livelihoods and means by which people obtain them,” she said.

Prof Fourie said that the challenges we are facing such as food production can only be effectively addressed through collaborative efforts.  “That is why it is important that collaboration takes place between different scientific disciplines, researchers, institutions and countries who are confronted with similar difficulties,” she said.

According to Prof de Waal the congress will give key role players a unique opportunity to present a profile of what they perceive an animal scientist should be and state their specific requirement regarding the animal sciences and its applications. 

“In this way we can determine what the industry’s needs are and we can re-align our curriculum to suit these needs,” said Prof de Waal.

During the next two days, various areas of interest will be discussed.  This includes ruminant and monogastric nutrition, animal physiology, beef, dairy, sheep and ostrich breeding and sustainable farming covering the range from commercial to the small-scale farming level.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
4 April 2006

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